conquer this passion and therefore none but such as are taught of him to deny themselves in all things can follow his footsteps in this that when he was reviled he reviled not again when he 1 Pet. 2. 23. suffered he threatned not but committeth himself to him that judgeth righteously nor can any promise themselves freedom from vindicative affections who have not learned of him to love their Enemies to blesse them that curse them to do good to Matth 5. 44 them that hate them and to pray for them that despitefully use them and persecute them this Lesson the Apostle had learned being reviled saith he we blesse being persecuted we suffer it and being defamed we intreat 1 Cor. 4. 12. 13. It is evident then that nothing can make a natural man effectually to lay down the resentments of privat injuries but a real change of his nature by the work of grace in conformity to Jesus Christ which only can incline us to be kind and tender hearted towards others forgiving them what they have done to us amisse even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us Ephes 4. 32. So then all that can be done to cure this as to men incorrigible evil is to hold forth this frame of the spirit of Christ and his Commandement both in our obedience thereunto and in our word of exhortation to move the Conscience of others to follow it The third is the apprehension of Gods vengeance But if those that should thus bear witnes of the life of Christ are to set rather upon the motions of revenge themselves and Rom. 12. 19. incourage those that are bent that way than inclined to take them off what shall we say unto it shall we not acknowledg that it will be just with God that he should execute his vengeance upon those that delight in privat vengeance against others and that take his proper work out of his hands for the Lord hath said vengeance is mine and I will repay it Behold then all ye that kindle a fire of wrathful revenge and compasse your selves about with sparkes of vindicative plots and attempts walk in the light of your fire and in the sparkes that ye have kindled seeing by no perswasions you can be brought herein to deny your selves This shall ye have of mine hand saith the Lord ye shall lie down in sorrow Isaiah 50. 11. Hitherto of the single Remedies The complicated follow as proper to the work of Magistrates and Ministers And why And thus much concerning the single and distinct Remedies which every one in private for himself is to make use of now it remaineth to speak also something of the universal and complicated remedies which all of us with reference one to another should seeke to apply unto our distracted publick Condition to heale the distempers which occasion the same and although all are obliged to desire and endeavour in their places the advancement hereof towards the publick yet properly the procurement and the application thereof doth belong mainly to the Ministery to the Magistracy in their several places and that with a special Reference to each other in their publick Administrations towards the Communalty As then the complication of our distempers doth beget an universal disease both in Religious and Civil Affaires So the general Remedies which flow from the fundamental duties of Love of Righteousnes and of Peaceablenes ought in a way of concurrence to be applyed both to the Church and Common-wealth Now the Ministers of the Gospel are Messengers of Gods Love and the Governours of the State are Ministers of his Righteousnes unto all men and both these as well in respect of their particular imployments as in respect of the common Profession of Christianity are called by God both unto the enjoyment of peace for themselves 1 Cor. 7. 15. Colos 3. 15. and to the practice and procurement of it unto others Rom. 12. 18. and Matth. 5. 9. therefore as the love of God that is our obligation to love him is the ground of all humane peace So the peaceable cure of all publick distempers and the first overtures and addresses thereunto must needes result from the effects and properties of love as it is Christian that is common to all and ought principally to be reached out unto all by the peaceable hand the righteous carriage and orderly behaviour of those that are the Messengers of Divine Love And again as nothing is truly love which doth not tend to a real good of him who is the object thereof or is not intended as a real good towards the object by him who is the Author thereof So nothing can be counted or will ever be found a real good or is intended for such unto any which is neither applyed nor intended as from God And herein the Minister should be the first to apply the Remedy of love Now it belongeth to none more to intend or apply things as from God then to the Ministers of his Word whose Profession it is to be the Messengers of his love as being sent forth to invite all men to partake thereof if therefore these do any thing towards any without a reference unto God and without the affections of his love they are of all men living the most unworthy of their employment it is true that all who glory in the name of Christ to call him Lord are bound to walk by this same Rule of love towards every one even as Christ hath loved us but yet it is evident that the Ministers appointed to publish unto all men his name are obliged herein to go before all others and to make it their special work to teach and perswade others to follow this way as it becometh the Disciples of such a Master and if any doth not this professedly he hath abandoned the main work as well of his Christian as Ministerial Calling for it is clear that the end of the whole Commandement both in respect of the duties of the Law and of the Doctrine of the Gospel is love out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfained Rom. 13. 10. and 1 Tim. 1. 5. and 1 John 3. 23. and that Ministers ought to raise their own and other mens thoughts and spirits in reference to the life of God in Christ to a comportment sutable unto this Duty and Doctrine above earthly interests and worldly concernments is a truth so evident that no Christian can make any doubt of it nor also of this that as no engagement is so near to us as this so none is to be preferred to it or ought to take us off from it From whence this conclusion is to be inferred That if any Minister of the Gospel doth at any time take upon him to be a judge of the Affaires of this world between Man and Man about which they are commonly in strife and therein doth take part with the one and opposeth the other as an Agent of the Affaires of this
alone upon free grace if he doth help to persecute any in their bodies or states for outward relations and interests rather than study to addresse and convert their soules to God and if he doth set himselfe in a state-way either to gain power and authority in his own hand to share it with the magistrate or to subordinate his ministeriall imployment unto wordly ends of State-government to cover the tricks thereof with a cloke of Conscience and Religion that people should worship the Image which he sets before them if I say any man doth pervert the use of his ministery thus yet professing himselfe to be the servant of Christ he doth play the part of the false Prophet who doth work miracles before the great Beast and exerciseth all his power over men And the Rev. 13. 11 12 13 c. and chap. 19 20. greater the naturall and acquired parts and gifts of this man are and the more revealed and spirituall truths or mystcall shewes thereof he doth mix with this kind of service the more fire he doth cause to come down from heaven and the more deeply he doth deceive and therefore he shall accordingly receive also with the false Prophet so much the more of his reward if he repent not 5 If therefore such as are in power look upon religion onely as Jeroboam did in order to their owne interests and will suffer none to stand in places of employment but men of their own creating that will serve turnes towards the people and if ministers that are in places of employment look onely upon their Magistrate as the Jewish Priests did upon Pilate when they delivered Christ up to be crucified by him and affect him no further than he will act their designes whether they agree or disagree upon their matters together it is apparent that by so doing they conspire to make the people that are led by them miserable and desolate because neither of them follow either the true work or the right way of their employment neither towards the multitude or towards one another but if they doe openly disagree they conspire then by tearing them in pieces and setting them in factions against one another to make their misery and desolation sudden and without remedy For except God turn their hearts to a right course and set them upon the works of their calling wthout partiality and direct their counsels in a loving righteous and peaceable way as Christ hath appointed his Disciples to walk for his glory towards the good of those that are under their charge and for their own mutuall happinesse they shall never be able for feare of one another to intend or attend any other designes but such as are acted by power and violence whereupon the great Dragon their master in these courses doth set them and whieh for want of Christian love and compassion can end in nothing else but in mercilesse cruelties equally ruinous to each other and to the Common-wealths of humanesocieties Of the duties of Love Righteousnesse and Peace joyntly Hitherto we have seen both what the proper workes and wayes of the Magistracy and Ministery are as they relate unto the ends for which Christ hath ordained them and what the error and deviation is from those works and wayes And lastly also what this deviation doth produce in all societies where the duties of Love of Righteousnesse and of Peace are not thought upon to referre the whole state thereof unto Christ as Christians ought to doe Let us now come to the second point of our Disquirie which is to discover what the naturall properties and proper acts are of true Love of Righteousnesse and of Peaceablenesse which Christians and chiefly their Leaders unto happinesse ought to intend towards all men but especially towards each other in the workes of their employment and above all in times of distresse Now to speak of these duties ingenerall as to commend their worth their necessity their usefulnesse and such like I conceive it needlesse for certainly it is not so much for want of knowledge of that which we ought to doe that we run into errors as by reason of our perturbation and of our by-respects which beget in us a disregarding of these and an observation of other matters and are begotten in us through partiality in our selves and fore-stalment of thoughts concerning others For it is by reason of these things that we play the hypocrites and lye against the Truth for which cause our sin is the greater For to him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is sin saith the Apostle Jam. 4. 17. Of the duty of Christian love by it selfe Therefore as concerning the duty of Christian Love it cannot be supposed in probability that any in the Ministery or in any other charge amongst Christians should be ignorant of the nature therof because it is known to all that have been taught the first Principles of the knowledge of Christ that the duty of Christian love is two-fold First the affection by which we cleave to God as to our Father in Christ And next the affection by which we embrace our neighbour for Gods sake as Christ hath embraced us Now concerning our love to God and friendship to Christ it is evident that it stands onely in this That we keep the commandements of the Father and that we doe whatsoever Christ doth enjoyne us to performe John 15. 14. and 1 John 5. 5. whence it is further manifest that to neglect the known will of God and to set our selves in a course which is contrary to his commandements is openly to renounce Christs friendship and plainly to become a hater of God and hatefull to him And as for the commandement wherein God will have us to shew our love and Christ our friendship to himself it is known by all to be none other but the Law of Love whereof the whole substance hath been delivered unto us in the new commandement which Christ hath given us when he sairh John 13. 34 35. A new Commandement I have given you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another by this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if yee have love one to another The true evidence then of our love towards God is this That we love the Brethren For he that saith he loveth God and hateth his brother is a lyar saith the Apostle 1 John 4. 20 21. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandement have we from him That he that loveth God love his brother also The end for this alwayes is to be lookt upon as that which doth manifest the nature and property of every thing of love is to seek the good of that which is beloved Now our goodnesse Psal 16. 2 3. 1 Cor. 10. 24. 1 Cor. 13. 5. cannot extend unto God therefore God hath appointed us
to bestow that good which by us is communicable upon men our brethren that beare his image For love seeketh not his own but the good of others And in Christian love the good which is to be sought and the way of seeking and imparting it unto others is no where so discernable as in the example of Christs love unto us for he procured and imparted unto us that which in it selfe was the onely good and to us that whereof we stood in greatest need For nothing it self is good but God and that which advanceth his glory Now we were separate from God and came short of his glory Rom. 3. 23. but Christ brought us neare unto him and received us into his glory Rom. 15. 7. Ephes 2. 13. Whence it is that the Apostle exhorts us to receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of Goll Rom. 5. 7. The end then and aim of Christian love doth tend to that good alone which makes us partakers of Gods glory for it aimes at the reall perception of Gods kindnesse of his mercy of his truth of his faithfulnesse and of all his goodnesse towards us that all may find it and in the covenant of Grace through Iesus Christ embrace it for this is that glory whereinto Christ did receive us As for the way of seeking and imparting this good unto others we see by Christs example a most excellent property of this love that it doth humble and deny it selfe and forsakes its own interests and conveniencies for the good of others and that even to the utmost For Christ through his love to us though he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equall with God yet made himselfe of no reputation but took the shape of a Servant upon him and became obedient even unto death and laid down his life for us Whence it is also that we are exhorted by the Apostles to have the same mind wich was in Christ Jesus Phil 2. 7. And to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 John 3. 16. We see then that the naturall properties and proper acts of Christian love tend wholly to engage the heart first to a perfect obedience unto the will of God in all things and then particularly to obey his will in this That we should procure the good of our neighbour even as Jesus Christ did procure for us that which was our good Thus then through love to him to doe to others that which he did to us is the true Being of Christian love Of the duty of Righteousnesse by it selfe As for the nature and proper acts of Righteousnesse all do know First that nothing can be accounted right in Christianity which is not conformable to a Rule Secondly that no such Rule can be accounted absolutely good straight and perfect but Gods will Rom. 12. 2. Thirdly that this Will is revealed in his Word And fourthly that this Will and Word are the way of holinesse wherein we ought to walke with God for without holinesse no man shall see his face Heb. 12. 14. 1 John 4 16. The proper act of righteousnesse therefore is the straightnesse of our will in subordination unto Gods will to walk with him Now as God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him so it followeth that he that walketh in love walketh with God and God with him Whence it is that the whole Law is fulfilled in the duty of love because all the straightnesse of the spirit of man is the integrity of his love in subordination to the will of God So that as the law of love is found to be the main principle of righteousnesse so all the acts of righteousnesse are nothing else but the fulfilling of this law Whence it is that the proportion which is the measure of the straightnesse of all actions between Man and Man is taken from the naturall principle of love which every one hath to himselfe for by the law we are commanded to love our neighbour as our selves Levit. 19. 18. Matth. 22. 39. And Christ makes the Rule plainer to us when he saith that all things whatsoever we would that men should doe to us we should even likewise doe unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets Matth. 7. 12. And according to this Rule God shall right all things that are out of frame for with what measure we mete unto others it shall be measured unto us again Matth. 7. 2. Now the cause why Love is the root of Righteousnesse is because it engageth the affection to be harmlesse and to pay willingly unto others all things which are due unto them for their good Whence it is also cleare that hatred is the root of all unrighteousnesse because it engageth the affection to the quite contrary motions Now as Righteousnesse is the daughter of Love so it is the mother of Peaceablenesse for by giving to every one his due contentednesse is begotten which preventeth the cause of strife and maintaineth peace So then the end of Righteousnesse is to direct our way to live with God by the uprightnesse of our spirit and actions in conformity to his will As concerning Peaceablenesse the nature and property of it is inwardly that quiet and meek disposition of the mind which is of great price in the sight of God and outwardly that sweetnes 1 Pet. 3. 4. and gentlenes of the carriage towards men which neither taketh nor giveth occasion of offences Of the duty of Peaceablenes The end of Peaceablenesse is to maintain increase and restore the joy which commeth from the enjoyment the augmentation and recovery of that which is good appertaining to us in the way of righteousnes And to gain this end two things are in the life of Christianity to be observed namely what the proper acts of Peaceablenes are in our selves and towards others and whence the disposition of the soul which doth beget them is begotten in us The proper acts of Peaceablenes in our selves are to study to be quiet 1 Thess 4. 11. not to mind high things but to condescend to things of low degree Rom. 12. 16. for of Pride cometh nothing but contention Prov. 13. 10. and to behave and quiet our selves as a child that is weaned from his mother Psa 131. that is to wean our soules from the lusts of the flesh for warres and fightings come from nothing else but from our lusts that warre in our members Jam. 4. 1. if therefore we have Salt within our selves to mortifie these lusts we shall be able to have Peace one with another as Christ commands us Mark 9. 50. The acts of Peaceablenesse towards others are in respect of all men to shew all meeknesse unto all men Tit. 3. 2. in respect of those that are of a quiet disposition to be of the same minde towards them Rom. 12. 16. endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit with them in the bond of Peace Eph. 4. 3.
world and doth not directly and mainly by raising their spirits above earthly passions and by leading them to the life of Christ endeavour to allay their worldly affections to compose their differences and to reconcile their affections one to another in the love of Christ if I say any Minister doth not set himself to work thus when he is obliged to meddle with carnal controversies about the things of men he hath clearly renounced not only the work of a true Minister of the Gospel but the name also of a true Christian for there can be no earthly concernment of such importance or so near to a Christian as to engage him to forge and cast off the duties and the affections of divine love towards any or not to endeavour the common welfare of all without partiality as Christ hath loved us and endeavoured our welfare if therefore any be found who call themselves The snare wherein some Ministers are caught which doth hinder them from applying the Remedy Ministers and yet make themselves on all sides the chief Actors and Abettors of State differences and controversies by whose instigation under a pretence of Religion the distempers of men are heightned and the common welfare of humane societies is disturbed shall we call them herein Ministers of the Gospel of God shall we say that in so doing they are guiltless before men or shall we not rather say that they are quite out of their way that they are Ministers of the Kingdome of Satan by following their own humours and that the Lord by them doth mingle a perverse spirit amongst the unsound professors of Christianity I do not think or say that all Ministers on all sides are thus set or set themselves a work for that would be a great untruth nor do I take upon me to judge any in particular or to judge in generall of all those that take upon them to meddle in State Matters that they do it against the Dictates of their Conscience for that would be a presumptuous and uncharitable judgement but this I say and judge that so many of the Ministery as are thus set and do meddle as they suppose by an engagement of Conscience with State Matters to take part with one and oppose another party therein and do not studie directly to take off the edge of all mens carnall animosities by the love of Christ that all may be directed to build up one another in all truth and righteousnesse towards the kingdome of God I say so many of the Ministery as take this course let it be upon what pretence soever are in a manifest error and dangerous snare of Satan from which I shall intreat the Lord in mercie to deliver them And that I may not be wanting to my duty and affection to help them out of it according to that rule of charitie Whosoever censures any fault ought to shew the way how it should be redressed I shall in the measure which I have received hold forth and demonstrate the course by which in these our present distractions the Ministers who truly mind the work of the Gospel should walk towards all men without blame to avoid this snare of Satan And to this effect I shall take this for granted that the Ministeriall employment in the Gospel is nothing else but a stewardship wherunto the dispensation of the messages and mysteries of Gods love to mankind in and by Christ Jesus The way to recover them out of the snare is committed and that consequently all the acts of this stewardship must at all times answer the nature and end of this dispensation or if any thing answer it not and is inconsistent with the love of 〈◊〉 to be dispensed therein that this thing let it be what it will and coloured with a shew never so faire is in respect of them unministeriall as to God and unwarrantable as to men Upon which ground this doth manifestly follow that no faithfull Minister of the Gospell will dare to do or say any thing ministerially concerning our present distractions in the State but that vvhich the love of God in Christ doth direct him to do and doth prompt him to say as a Christian unto Christians indeed or unto such as pretend to be the disciples of Jesus Christ Which can be effectually nothing else but that which is fit to incline through the love of God the heart of every one to put on towards each other the bowels of mercy of compassion of kindenesse of meeknesse and of long suffering that the breaches which make us unprofitable one to another in the profession of Christianity may be healed by the unity of the Spirit of Christ in the bond of peace For if all our works and our perswasions center not in Gods love upon the hearts of those with whom we deal through the unfeigned profession of Christianity it is certain that we will venture upon them in the love of this present world for something which doth oblige us to the profession of partialitie for so farre as we go out of the one way we step immediately into the other therefore to keep our selves free from the trappes wherein many are caught by the subtile contrivances of State Mysteries and to help those that are recoverable to recover themselves out of the engagement to further breaches and to prevent the great thoughts of heart which our destructive divisions are like to bring forth Let us reflect as in the sight of God upon the Rules of our Christian duties first in love and then in righteousnesse and in peaceablenesse that so many of us as make not the pretence of Religion and conscience a cloak of maliciousnesse but in all things and above all endeavour without partialitie towards men to approve our conscience in sinceritie before God may finde a directory by the spirit in the word of Truth which is the testimony of Jesus whereby to â—â—â—y how to behave our selves harmlesly as the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of these distractions that we may not be accessory to the perversenesse and the crookednesse of the generation which doth occasion and foment the same The complicated causes of our publick disease Seeing then our complicated disease doth lye in the generall disagreement of mens imaginations about things past in the unrulinesse of their actions about things present in the unsettlement and difference of their desires about things to come and in the peremptorinesse of their resolutions taken up upon mutuall discontents and future hopes of changes our way to cure these distempers must be also in a complicated course of using Remedies which will meet with the disorderlinesse of mens hearts and actions in all these unsettlements and because the first ingredient and basis of this whole Remedie must needs be Divine Love for without it the rest will be ineffectuall and this ought first to be exhibited in the work of the Ministery by their practise and perswasion we shall take the
stated Thirdly concerning the point of difference how to state the Question rightly which is to be debated I take it to be one of the chiefest rationall expedients that can be used to prevent the inconveniencie of an endlesse controversie nor is there any one thing that doth more intangle and increase the multiplicitie of needlesse Debates then the mistake of the point of difference either wilfully or ignorantly entertained By this means Satan doth inable and ingagemens spirits to make their contestations inextricable endlesse and irreconcileable for when the Question is not distinctly stated and men are entred as it were blindfold upon contradictions they will rather shift the point of debate twentie times then seem to be found in an error once and will rather shew a willingnesse to dissent in every thing then have any thing determined by their adversarie as a Truth against them And because in the ordinarie Debates we see that men labour to state the Question onely as they please which commonly is to the prejudice although it be clearly against the sense of their antagonist it is evident hereby that they are led by Satan to affect rather this that their adversary may be thought guilty of hainous errors and practises then to endevour this that his true meaning may be discussed and thereby some profitable truth and rule of practise held forth unto all and from these roots of bitternesse it is that almost all the books of Modern Controversies are stuffed throughout with clamors railings injuries and â—eproaches so that to lick up the vomitings of drunken men or to hearken to the hideous howlings of wilde beasts is not more loathsome or irksome to an ingenuous spirit then to be entertained with the filthy belchings and load brawls of men drunken and mad with passion whereby they fome out their own shame How it is to be stated Therefore to prevent the mistakes which lead men into such distempers the first occasion thereof is to be avoided which is an inclination to be partiall for our selves to get some advantage by framing of the Question But to avoid this snare the true knot and center of the difference ought to be proposed as a doubtfull Question and not as an accusation or a charge that is to say the thing to be debated is to be layed down in the name of both parties as they shall agree to understand it and not as any one of them would have it understood Therfore I do offer to walk by these Rules in this matter First let a Question be framed by him that will enter upon the Debate expressing that which he conceiveth to be the matter of doubt between him and his antagonist to be decided Secondly let the Question be opened and all the parts and terms thereof explained to shew in what sense every word is taken by him that offereth it unto the Debate Thirdly let that be shewed wherein he conceiveth there is an agreement between himself and the party with whom he is to debate Fourthly and lastly let the precise point of difference be distinctly declared as a doubt to be resolved And when this is done let the Question thus stated before any arguing pro or contra be entertained about it be imparted to the party with whom the Debate is intended that he may declare his sense thereof whether yea or no the point of difference in his minde doth lye there where the other hath placed it For if it doth not and I should have entred upon the Debate before this is known all my labour would be lost and in vain as to him because he will neither deny what I intend to prove nor affirm what I refute but something else perhaps which I have not at all mentioned or thought upon What to be done to handle the Question stated so as to come to an orderly debate thereof Fourthly the way of handling the point of doubt to find e a decision thereof ought to be predetermined before the Debate be undertaken and to this effect when ever I shall intend to enter upon a Debate with any body I shall proceed with him after this Method First I shall write unto him as a Brother letting him know the offence which his Doctrine or Practise doth give and how prejudiciall it is to the Gospel in publick Here I shall state the Question between me and him as I shall understand it desiring him to rectifie my thoughts concerning his opinions or practises if I mistake either of them and if I mistake them not to give me leave for his own and the publick good to endevour the rectifying of that wherein I shall conceive him to be out of the way This entrie is to be made upon the businesse both in conformitie to Christs rule by which scandals are to be taken away from amongst brethren Matth. 18. 15. And also because it is necessarie to prevent prejudicate affections to beget love to try the ingenuity of our Brother and to waken the sincerity which ought to be in him to walk answerable to the rules of the Gospel If upon this offer he doth give a fair Answer he will either state the Question otherwise then I did to rectifie my mistake and so perhaps decline the Debate or by altring the Question he will give a new rise to deal further with him or by allowing that state which I have proposed he will accept of a conference thereupon But if he doth give no fair Answer or no Answer at all to that which is offered then I shall give him a second admonition and acquaint some friends with it to joyn with me to make him sensible of his duty by two or three witnesses according to Christs rule in this case Matth. 18. 16. And if this second admonition doth not draw him on to any effect of Christian ingenuity the whole narrative and proces of the busines may be offered to the Society of those under whom he doth stand that by them he may be dealt withall according to Christs direction Matth. 18. 17. if they bring him to the sense of his duty well and good if not he is to be left unto himself as an Heathen and a Publicane whom the Christian Magistrate ought to restrain from disorderly wilfulnesse and offensive irregularity But supposing him to be ingenuous and willing to justifie unto me that which I think to be a misse in him a conference will be accepted either by word of mouth or in writing or both wayes joyntly for both wayes may concur at once Then In the second place I shal make an offer of the Principles from whence I shall conceive the decision of the doubt should be taken and of the orderly way of applying those Principles that by consequences drawn from them the point of doubt raised between us may be determined If we agree upon the Principles and upon the orderly way of inferring thereupon conclusions applyable to the doubt in hand then we shall proceed affirmatively and
not envying them nor provoking them nor being desirous of vain glory towards them Galat. 5. 26. In respect of those that are of an unquiet disposition to follow Peace and ensue it towards them 1 Pet. 3. 11. and that even so far as it is possible and as much as in us lyeth Rom. 12. 18. to do all things without murmurings and disputings against them in a blamelesse and harmlesse way that they may have no cause to murmure at us or to dispute with us Phil. 2. 14 15. And to this effect to lay aside all malice and all guil and hypocrisie evil speakings and surmisings 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. And lastly in respect of those that are injurious to recompense no evill for evill nor to avenge our selves but to give place unto wrath Rom. 12. 17 19. Not to be overcome with evill but to overcome evil with good Rom. 12. 21. And to that effect with all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long-suffering to forbear them in love Ephes 4. 2. And to forgive them as God in Christ hath forgiven us Ephes 4. 32. Now the originall and immediate cause of this Peaceable disposition of the soul is to suffer the Peace of God whereunto we are called to rule in our hearts Col. 3. 15. for when this by the new Covenant in Christ doth possesse the spirit the soul is quieted within it self because it entreth with Christ into that rest which he hath purchased and prepared for it Hebr. 4. 10 11. And it receiveth the Peace which he hath left with it and given to it so that the heart is not troubled neither is it afraid at any thing which in this world can befall unto it Joh. 14. 27. for the promise of the Lord wherein he hath caused us to hope doth sustain us which saith that he will keep him in perfect Peace whose heart is stayed on him because he trusteth in him Isa 26. 3. But on the other side those that have no interest in the Covenant of Peace which Christ hath made with us can have no rest nor quietnesse within themselves or towards others because my God hath said There is no Peace to the wicked but his heart and his whole course is as the troubled Sea which cannot rest but casteth forth mire and dirt perpetually Isa 57. 20 21. The ends then of these duties shew the perfection whereunto they lead us and their proper works the way by which we attain the same For by the law of love we are taught how to aime at that which is truly good by the law of righteousnesse how to order our way in prosecuting of it and by the law of Peaceablenesse how to attend the delightfull possession of it The first sets our minde upon God the second directs us to him and the third fits us to enjoy him What is proper to a Christian in these duties more then to other men Thus in brief we see what these duties are and whence in a Christian more then in other men they proceed for other men know nothing herein but the principles of Reason and Morality by which they look more upon the materiall outside of the works then upon any thing else because naturall men cannot raise their minds unto the apprehension of spirituall truths which beget in the soul a new life and farre lesse can they act any thing thereby without speciall grace yet if the Intellectuals of a man truly rationall in nature which is not altogether impossible be raised so far by the right use of common illuminations as to perceive the proportion which is between such performances as these are and the principles from whence they flow he will finde no just cause to contradict any thing therin although his heart will not be able thereupon to close with the duties themselves for a true Christian is a spirituall man is not inabled to close heartily with these duties either because he is convicted of the rationalitie thereof or because he doth understand the excellencie and worth of this way above the way of Morality for these are onely preparative inducements inclining his affection thereunto but he closeth therewith onely because his conscience is enlightned by the truth and purified by faith and therein is bound over and given up to walk thus with God in Christ by the covenant of grace for through the law of the spirit of life and love which is in Christ Jesus whereby he is freed from the law of sin and of death he is made conformable unto the image of the Son of God and the righteousnesse of the Law of God through faith and love being fulfilled in him he hath peaceable communion with the Father and with the Son wherein he doth set himself to walk with joy and unspeakable comfort in the light of their countenance by which he is daily transformed from glory to glory as by the Spirit and presence of the Lord. The rule then and the way of a Christian is to walk in these duties towards all men and for these ends not with humane wisdome and the reasonings of his naturall understanding although he doth nothing irrationally but according to the direction and manifestation of the Spirit of grace that is according to the testimony of Jesus revealed unto his spirit which obligeth his conscience to follow affectionately the rules of these duties in all simplicitie and godly sincerity through love to the life of Jesus Christ and the grace of God in him and not for any other obligation or by any other consideration whatsoever and whosoever doth walk after this rule Peace be upon him and upon the Israel of God And because we have not hitherto walked after this rule we have not as yet found the way to Peace for to finde Peace out of this way is as impossible as to misse of it within it How universal they are and inseparable from Christianity And chiefly in leading men and times of greatest need From hence we may observe that these duties have an universall influence upon all the wayes of Christians for as Christians they are essentiall to them in all the works of their severall callings and if they studie not to do all their works by these rules they cannot be said to do them as Christians for as Christians we are commanded to do all our matters with charitie 1 Cor. 16. 14. for we are obliged by the love of God to us as his dear children to be followers of God and to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us Ephes 5. 1 2. And if we walk not thus it is evident that we are none of his children but have renounced his love and are destitute of the life of God in all our undertakings for he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love 1 Joh. 4. 8. And again as Christians we are bound to serve God and Christ in his kingdom and if we serve him not how can we truly bear his Name Now the kingdom of God wherein
events of businesses Now the difference between envy and jealousie is this that we envy those whom we love not because they enjoy the good which we want but we are jealous over those whom we are obliged to love lest we be deprived by them of that which we pretend to possesse This passion may be harmlesse if the love upon which it is grounded be pure but if pride doth mix it self therewith then we are jealously affected towards others but Gal 4. 17. with Gal. 6. 13. not well as the Apostle terms it because it maketh us willing to exclude others from that which is their advantage and priviledge that they may be brought under our power to affect us and that we may glory over them How far lawfull and commendable Wherein unlawfull and discommendable And what effects they work upon the Subjects Now therefore there may and ought to be in Magistrates and Ministers a commendable and lawfull jealousie and fear which is for the good of the societie over which they are set this is a prudentiall care to watch for the good and prevent the evill which may befall to those whom they love and over whom they are set Thus the Apostle was jealously affected towards the Corinthians I am saith he jealous over you with godly jealousie for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 1 Cor. 11. 2. 3. His jealousie was not a fear lest he should lose somewhat of his esteeme amongst them or his particular interest in them be lessened for elsewhere he renounces this designe and gives up his whole esteeme to their advantage when he saith I pray to God that you do no evill not that we should appear approved but that you should do that which is honest though we be as reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 7. But lest they should lose somewhat of their neernesse towards God and their common interest in Christ be lessened And according to this pattern not onely Ministers but faithfull Magistrates ought to be prudentially watchfull and jealously fearfull not so much for their own interest in the affections of those that are under them lest they seem to be lessened therein but for the good and advantage of those that God hath committed unto their charge lest they come short of that felicitie which they are bound to procure unto them Thus an upright-hearted Magistrate will be carefull to prevent the seeds of Mutinie of Discontentednesse and of Division lest thereby the publick Peace and welfare of the people be lost and disturbed rather then that he should lose his pre-eminencie and the advantage of his place therein For if he doth love them and is faithfull to the trust committed by God unto him for them he will wholly quit this of his own for the purchase of that unto them chiefly when otherwise it cannot be obtained and this he ought to do because he is bound to know that God hath set him in his place for the good of the people and not made or given up the people to the pleasure of his will and meerly for him to be a Ruler over them the Court flattery which hath darkned this truth hath caused the Leaders of the Nations to erre and destroyed the way of their paths For the great ones that have power in the world being flattered into pride and self-love and forgetting that they are servants of the Communaltie for the publick good thereof make use of their places and abuse their trust to satisfie private passions they look upon all men and things as made to serve their wils and whatsoever is not subordinate unto the way of that pleasure and greatnesse wherein they delight to appear above others is made an object of their jealousie and suspition as if all that are not slaves unto their appetites were opposites unto or competitors of their greatnes When this imaginary suspitiousnes hath put the spirits of those that are in supremacy out of frame they pervert the course of their Government setting themselves rather to vex and grieve those that disagree from their sense in any thing onely because they go not their way to humour them in all things though they be otherwise harmlesse and quiet in the Land then to oblige every one indifferently in every thing to all common duties of mutuall serviceablenesse of love and of faithfulnesse to a publick interest which is the onely true work and ought to be the whole and single aime of those that are in places of Authority but when this is not their true aime and work as tending to the good of others they can do nothing else but minde themselves ambitiously and then their jealousies must needs run in this strain because they can reflect upon nothing but in order to themselves in which snare when once they are taken whether they be Magistrates or Ministers according to their dealings with those that are under them the reward of their hands is justly given to them for the Lord who cannot be mocked doth cause every man reap that which he doth sowe if therefore such as rule sowe the seeds of perverse jealousies and fears upon the grounds of ambition and self-will in the minds of those that are in subjection they must expect to reap nothing from their affections but the fruits of gall and wormwood and when their spirits are once embittered their fears being restlesse and their discontentednes easelesse they put themselves upon the causes of troubles and disquietnesse unto themselves and to those that are over them for seeing they are made to conceive by that which they finde in a vexatious government that they cannot confide their safetie any longer unto the hands of those that seek to enslave them they are naturally inclined and easily brought over to set up to themselves new interests that are not onely different but opposite to those that are intrusted with the management of publick affairs Whence it is that they hearken readily to such as augment their fears and foment the evill impressions which they have taken up against their superiours by which means as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaffe so the root of the greatnes of the Grandees of the Earth becometh rottennesse and their blossome goeth up as dust and this justly because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts which is the law Isa 5. 24. of humi 〈◊〉 itie and love to serve others with their talents for a publick good and despised the word of the holy One of Israel which is the word of Righteousnesse and of Faith teaching all men to live unto God according to the simplicitie of the Gospel For because that law and this word is not entertained by the Rulers of the Earth and those that are ruled by
not act in spirituall matters by our Laws to lay our hand upon our mouth and to be silent because the Lord hath done it and henceforth giving him the glory of his righteous judgements not to envy one another any more nor to studie how to exalt our selves above others because the Lord doth know the proud afar off and without respect of persons he doth judge all men according to their works In respect of his Mercie to the Humble The third way of Gods dealing with every one considerable in this case is the dispensation of his mercy that we should take notice who they are to whom it is extended the Apostle saith he sheweth mercy unto the humble The Mercie of God is the affection of his love to Man as he is miserable to shew this affection is to ease him of his miserie by removing the causes thereof which are sin and the punishments of sin the Humble are they which in lowlinesse of minde esteeme others better then themselves Phil. 2. 3. such cannot bear envy unto any body for any good thing but think others more worthy of it then themselves and to these God hath in a speciall manner engaged his Mercy We see then what the condition of the promise is whereunto we may trust to finde some ease from the Miseries which have beset us under the mighty hand of God which is that we should be found in this way of love by which in honour we prefer others to our selves as the holy Ghost commands us Rom. 12. 10. For the Apostle makes the ground of that preferring one another in honour to be the kindnesse of affections with brotherly love ibid By this means then we became objects of Gods Mercie and we may confidently hope for the enjoyment thereof because it is certain that Gods dealing will be towards us as our heart is in his presence and our behaviour is towards our neighbour for with the mercifull he will shew himself mercifull Psal 18. 25. and consequently to the loving he will be kinde but to the froward he will shew himself froward ibid v. 26. and to such as are contentious that is who have bitter envy and strife in their hearts he will render indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish which in justice is their due and to all that take pleasure in unrighteousnesse Rom. 2. 8 9. How the performance of our duties remedie envy From these considerations of Gods way toward us the Apostle doth not onely endevour to let us see how far the spirit of envy is opposite to his Spirit and to our happinesse but he infers our duty towards him which in reference to the effects for which it is to be performed is a foure-fold Remedie to our disease and miseries under the same The first is a Remedie to the temptations which from without provoke us to enviousnesse The second will rectifie the perverse inclinations which from within make us susceptible of those temptations and resist the Remedie thereof lest it be effectuall towards us The third will free us from the guilt whereinto we fall by the sinfulnesse of our way of envy And the fourth will set us upright again in a comfortable condition before God and as by these degrees of the cure all the causes of our miserie will be removed so by the last act thereof the full cure will be accomplished and our happinesse perfected The Remedie of temptations unto enviousnesse First to Remedie the Temptations provoking us to envie and pride the great roots of all our evill our way is to submit our selves to God and to resist the devill which if we uprightly endevour we have a promise that he the tempter will flee from us v 7. To submit unto God is not onely to acknowledge his supremacy that he hath power over all and doth dispose of all things in heaven and earth this the devils must do and tremble but willingly to give our selves over unto him counting that which he disposeth over us to be the best that can befall unto us for his glory and our good To resist the devill is not to suffer the suggestions which proceed from his nature and spirit in us to prevail with us to lead us to impatience to murmuring to lusting and to envie And the devil is said to flie from us when being foiled in these attempts he doth leave off to provoke us thereunto which doth fall out assoon as his suggestions are discovered and we armed with a resolution not to yeeld unto the same For all the advantage which he hath against us in times of affliction to lead us into temptation is the unsetled and troubled frame of spirit wherein he finds us for when Gods hand is upon us and we do not give up our wils in quietnesse unto his will but fret and murmure at the things which do befall unto us then Satan can take hold of us and we have no power to resist him by reason of our distempers but assoon as we give up our turbulent affections as a sacrifice unto the will of God by submission thereunto and deny our selves that his dispensation may take place as well in our will as over our outward man Satan is disappointed of his hold because when we are contented with Gods dispensation the love of God is shed abroad in our heart which begetteth hope and strengthneth our faith in the promises and by this means all the devils fierie darts are quenched Now when he finds a soul thus armed and in a posture of defence he never assaults further but as a proud coward is afraid to be shamed and flies from us Satan deals with the souls of men as Amaleck did with Israel when Deut. 25. 17 18. they came out of Aegypt he lyes in wait in the way he assaults our hindmost parts where we are weakest and watcheth his opportunity both to come behinde us and also to finde us in a faint and wearie condition he dares not appear to our face when we are in a posture of defence but he is gone as soon as he finds himself discovered and we set our face against him now we never turn our face against him but when we turn it by submission unto God to rest and acquiesse in his will as in that which alone is most perfect good and acceptable This then is the onely Remedie of all the temptations which provoke us from without unto the distempers of this kinde but because this Remedy though known as a dutie is not alwayes effectuall as a cure by reason of the inclinations of our nature resisting the use and application of the same therefore in the second place the Apostle doth adde a further means to rectifie these inclinations The Remedie of perverse inclinations which make the temptations prevalent and disappoint the cure therof For the perverse inclinations which not onely make us susceptible of those temptations but resist the remedy thereof are our pronenesse to be separate in times of
taken up of designes persons will never suffer the mind to be at rest but by the apprehensions of evil listning after rumors and reports the heart will be moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind The remedy of Tale-bearing and private censuring By every one Therefore the first remedy of tale-bearing and private censuring is this cure of jealousies and feares for where the spirit is free from this distemper and in a serene frame within it selfe following that which is good towards all men before God there will be no listening after evill reports nor entertaining of tale-bearers upon evill surmisings and if no man will lend a tale-bearer his eares he will be soon weary of his employment By the Magistrate But the more direct cure of this disease is partly in the Magistrates partly in the Ministers hand for if the Christian Magistrate would take up Davids resolution and Psalm 101. practice it To know no wicked person To cut off such as privily stander others To cast out of his sight and discountenance every where such as carry tales from one to another and tell lies and consequently to represse railing accusations scandalous pamphlets and injurious reproaches so that a way might be opened at least for a reparation of the injuries of such a nature with infamy to those that inferre the same as in other Common-wealths the custome is If I say this were done by the Magistrate the publick inconveniencie of tale-bearing private censurings and of defamations would soone be cured As the North-wind saith Solomon ariveth away Prov. 25. 23 rain so doth an angry countenance a back-biting tongue If the angry countenance of a private man will doe this to a slanderer in private much more will the angry countenance of a Magistrate be able to effect it when a just reward of punishment will take hold of the transgressors By the Minister But to perfect this cure the Ministers of the Gospel should make it a part of their work as well in privat as publick to make all men sensible of the sinfulnes of whispering and backbiting and of the danger of an unruly tongue which sets the world on fire and is set on fire of hell What shall be given unto Psal 120. 3. 4. thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue sharp Arrowes of the mighty with Coales of Juniper and such as with a deceitful tongue love devouring words God shall likewise destroy Psal 52. 4. 5. them for ever he shall take them away and pluck them out of their dwelling-place and root them out of the land of the living Saith the Holy Ghost and if free passage of the Gospel into the soules of men is to be regarded there is nothing that doth more directly obstruct it and hinder men from entertaining it then envies and evil speakings which are alwayes accompanied with malice guile and hypocrisie as the Apostle doth intimate 1 Peter 2. 1. 2. nor shall we ever see Jerusalem a quiet Habitation nor peace upon Israel till the disorder lines of whispering tale-bearing and passionate censuring be removed from the zeale of the Profession if Ministers themselves too too many were not guilty of this it might hopefully be in some Zelots but the zeale for one and against another party which hath drowned the zeale for meeknes for love and for true unpartial Christianity doth licenciat the spirits of professors to do this without controll by the example of some of their Ministers for it is from the pride of men that dote about questions of their own framing because they mind not with true zeale the undoubted and known truths of the Gospel that this heat of strife and railing and of passionatenes which is mistaken for zeale doth proceed as the Apostle declares 1 Tim. 6. 3. 4. 5. and truly it is hard to know whether Satan doth more harme to the felicity of mankind by the false accusations which unconscionable and profane men give out against the godly in the world or by the privat and faulty reprovings of true faults which disorderly zealous professors give out against them in the Church By all Conscionable Professors of Religion The Rules then to be offered to such as make Conscience of their wayes which may prevent and cure the disorderlines of these courses are these First let us watch over our spirits that nothing be done through strife and vain glory but all things in humility and without murmurings and disputings Phil. 2. 3. 14. Secondly if a man in the way of a lawful Calling must needs contend for Truth and Righteousnes and for the Faith once given to the Saints yet then let him remember that he ought to be slow to speake and slow to wrath because the wrath of man Jam. 1. 19. 2. worketh not the Righteousnes of God for our heat and passions do rather prejudice then advantage the truth in the minds of those to whom it is offered Thirdly let us consider this truth that to relate the faults and errors of one man who is a stranger to another under the pretence of warning him to whom the relation is made of the danger thereof is neither charitable nor positively edifying it is not charitable because the discoveries of mans failings to strangers can proceed from no love to those that faile for love covereth from strangers a multitude of sins nor can it work any love in strangers towards them nor is it possitively edifying to those that are made acquainted therewith because nothing doth positively edifie but the manifestation of Truth and Righteousnes Fourthly and lastly let this Rule be laid to heart that to lay open the faults of any either to himself or to others otherwise then in order to the course which Christ hath appointed to rectifie the same and with a charitable design to bring him that erreth from the error of his way is altogether unlawful and therefore none ought to censure any man or fault but that at the same instant is able and willing to shew the way how to reclaim the man and redresse the fault Concerning the remedy of revenge The first is Prayer Hitherto I have spoken of the distempers which are cureable in our nature by reasonable perswasions the distemper of revenge which we have found to be incureable by ordinary meanes must be referred unto the prayers of the Godly to intercede for those that are in danger thereof that their passion may not be an incentive of the fierce wrath of God against their own soules and over the whole Nation but that the remainder of wrath may be restrained from breaking forth upon Psal 76. 10. others and by the spirit of Christ subdued within themselves The second is Christs Spirit To be held forth by the Ministers for nothing but the mighty spirit by which Jesus Christ did walk in our flesh and overcome the world bound the strong man in our nature and spoiled him of his goods can
acknowledging of blessings received such as by with-drawing sullenly their affections and concurrence from lawfull endeavours discourage the hearts and hands of others from the common duties of love and peaceablenesse and of righteousnesse and such as thereby seek to distract and perplex the government and obstruct the publick settlement of the Common-wealth in quietness if they repent not will at last assuredly receive that reward of their hands which will be a wo unto them and no matter of rejoycing This then will be our wisdome to behave our selves in these times as it becometh Christians I say Christians who are not to be shaken with the stormy changes of this world which passeth away but stand stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labours of love of peace and of righteousness are not in vain 1 Cor. 15. 58. in the Lord. We ought then to shake off the spirit of drowsiness and like unto Wrastlers who set themselves in a posture of striving for Masteries to stirre up strength to raise our hands to confirm our knees and be in a readiness for the actions of our employment and all this should be intended so much the rather because the dayes are evill The duty of ordering our conversation aright This resolution thus taken will fit our mind for our undertakings and then the duty next to be laid to heart will fit the workes which we are to take in hand for our places and abilities whereof the Rule is this That we should make straight paths for our feet The feet of the soule are all the moving faculties thereof which carry it from one object to another as the feet of the body carry it from one place to another The paths of these feet are both the objects wherewith our soule is conversant and the steps of our proceeding in moving about the same The objects are all the affaires of a Religious Naturall and Civill property according to the severall relations in private publick wherein we are set The steps are the thoughts the affections and the outward actions by which we are carried from one object to another The straightnesse of these paths is the enemies both of the way wherin we walke and of our motion therein the enemies of the way is the lawfulness of the things themselves when the objects of our employment are none other but such as they ought to be in our proper stations when they are made free from crooked turnings and windings and laid in a direct line before us from their beginnings to their endings and when the rugged and unequall paths thereof are made smooth and plain that is the knotty circumstances of affaires taken off by equity The enemies of our motion in this way is the lawfulness of our proceeding and carriage in following a direct course neither turning to the right nor left hand till our journies end nor moving unequally one time too high another time too low as those that halt And to make these pathes straight our care must be of two things first to reflect upon the end of our work and then upon the meanes by which it is attainable for there be two parts of folly in our nature which pervert all our wayes the one is Childishnes when we consider not to what purpose we are busie the other is improdence when we consider not our work is to be carried on To avoid the first of these we must not suffer the faculties of our soule to walk at random about their objects but should determine the purpose of their motions by a known and undoubted Rule towards that which is manifestly good and to avoid the second branch of folly we must set our faculties and their motions a work in an orderly way without confusion and disproportion according to their places and properties in nature Thus then he that will fit his work in Righteousness to his proper place and abilities that it may not miscarry must forecast and consider his whole way with every thing belonging unto it and his own walking therein this forecast must contain two parts the one positive the other negative The positive forecast is that which hitherto we have mentioned concerning the end of our undertakings and the ordering of all the meanes and motions tending thereunto by a sure and known Rule without which we have no light in us and can do nothing but play the foole in every thing Therefore such as walk not by a known Rule and love not to come to the light thereof to approve unto all men but chiefly to those with whom they have to do their aimes and the meanes and wayes of their proceeding to gaine the same but cover their Councel deepe and hide these things from those that are concerned therein make no strait pathes for their feet and do not the truth and by this they are known that their works are not done in God whereas others who forecast without prejudice and partiality their affaires to proceed no further therein then they have a rule to warrant them love to discover themselves as in the presence of God before every one The Negative forecast is that which doth consider the impediments incident to the work of our employment how they may be removed for seeing the whole world doth lie in wickednes and we cannot avoid meeting with the crosse effects of wickednes either in the crookednes of our own nature or in others we cannot be said to have made straight pathes for our feet except some preparations be made to remove and obviat the same The impediments then which should be foreseen lie either in the objects of our work or in the working faculties the objects are either things or persons The impediments to be foreseen in things are the evil qualities thereof which by reason of the curse and bondage of corruption cleave to the whole Creation therefore to make our pathes straight in respect of things we ought to discerne their defects as well as their useful properties we ought to presuppose and suspect more defects in them than we are able to discerne and we ought not to venture upon their abilities further than the ordinary usefulnes of their natural activity is plainly discovered unto us The impediments to be foreseen in persons for no man can do any thing in this world without some relation towards other men ought to be considered as well with reference to those who are directly or collaterally concerned in the business we take in hand as with reference to those who are not concerned therein but yet are likely to take notice thereof as for those with whom we have to do our considerations should run chiefly upon the impediments which may fall in about the circumstances of our station and relation towards them and about the apprehensions and thoughts which they may have of our persons and proceedings in all which we should reflect upon the occasion of offence which may be incident